Garbage Man Proves Al Gore Wrong

While half of the United States is just beginning to thaw out from one of the coldest winters in recent history the other half of the country remains in winter’s icy grasp. It seems like just yesterday we were being told how the polar ice caps would be melted, hurricanes would be raging out of control, and life as we knew it would be forever ruined by global warming. What were we to do? To whom could we turn for our global environmental salvation? Why not the source of many of these grave predictions, Al Gore.

Remember all the warnings from this self-styled global warming guru? Several times in 2007, 2008, and 2009 Al Gore publicly and emphatically predicted the North Pole would be “ice-free” due to “man-made global warming by 2013.” Gore, Bill Clinton’s Vice President who lost the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush, has positioned himself as one of the leading advocates and propagators of global warming or “Climate Change”, as it’s now known in the politically correct circles.

Global Warming Or Global Cooling?

It is now several months into 2014 and what has become of the North Pole? Surely it is all slush and water by now, right? According to John D. Arwood, President of Arwood Waste, “Not only is there still ice at the North Pole there is actually about 50% more ice than there was 5 years ago. Unfounded sensational claims and predictions by high profile figures like Al Gore do much more to harm our environment than to help. They confuse and distract the public from the real ways they can have a positive impact on the environment.” As we recover in the aftermath of the ‘Polar Vortex’ the average person should find it difficult to make sense of global warming claims while they live through the effects of what appears more like global cooling.

Findings from the European Space Agency’s CryoSat satellite and the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) state, “Preliminary measurements from the CryoSat show that the volume of Arctic sea ice in autumn 2013 was about 50% higher than in the autumn of 2012. In October 2013, CryoSat measured approximately 9,000 cubic kilometers (approximately 2,200 cubic miles) of sea ice compared to 6,000 cubic kilometers (approximately 1,400 cubic miles) in October 2012.” These findings along with trends showing increased ice packs near the South Pole seem to contribute to the idea of global cooling rather than warmer.

Unproven Claims Harm Recycling Efforts

“My main concern with misleading predictions like these from Gore and many others, is that they confuse people about the true effects of recycling efforts in their communities. When they hear wild catastrophic predictions about the future that never come true, it’s easy for them to think their daily choices regarding recycling and the environment will also have no impact,” says Arwood. Getting his start collecting and recycling used metal from factories, John Arwood has been recycling debris since 1984. He became interested in the negative impacts from unproven claims of global warming through his research into removing and recycling space waste. “It’s because of my genuine desire to promote fact based environmental awareness that I’ve invested so much into initiatives such as National Garbage Man Day and our recycling programs at Arwood Waste.”

Sadly, Arwood’s concerns about the public’s propensity for being misinformed and misguided appear to be true. In a recent survey conducted by the National Science Foundation, one in four Americans were unaware that the Earth orbited the Sun. The survey of 2200 people in the United States consisted of nine questions related to physical and biological science. The average score was a discouraging 6.5 correct with only 74% correctly answering the question “Does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the Sun go around the Earth?” Troubling results like these paired with clearly shapeable public perceptions on environmental issues should raise the alarm about global warming extremists, such as Al Gore.

What Does The Evidence Say?

The task becomes increasingly more challenging for global warming advocates in the face of evidence like that from NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (NOAA/GLERL), and as reported by The Weather Channel, that “Ice cover peaked at 92.2 percent of the Great Lakes on March 6. In records dating to 1973, only February 1979 (94.7 percent peak) had a greater ice coverage…About 94 percent of Lake Superior, just under 96 percent of Lake Huron, 96 percent of Lake Erie, and almost 92 percent of Lake Michigan was ice-covered on March 6.” More evidence pointing towards a cooling trend than one of warming.

With the help of those promoting factually based environmental awareness, like John Arwood in the waste collection and recycling industry, the challenge remains to keep the public engaged and informed. While the challenge is great, the fact that a garbage man can prove the claims of Al Gore wrong should inspire us all to continue seeking the facts about our environment and the environmental impacts of our actions.

Comments

Nice try. It’s climate change that’s the issue, not global warming. The IPCC have all the information you’re looking for that Fox news doesn’t ( http://www.ipcc.ch). And as for impending crises and how it affects consumer behaviour, you’re pointing to one study that supports your point of view. This isn’t the scrap heap where you get to pick and choose only the information that’s most valuable to you.

The real message here is that science is complicated and ALL self promoters should be suspect. Global weather patterns happen on different scales from 20,000 year cycles to 100,000 year cycles. It is these long term patterns that tell the real story. No, doomsday predictions are not helpful to society, but denying the reality of climate change will not be helpful in the long run either. Extreme weather is part of the new weather paradigm — whether you believe in it or not.

In my opinion and as another garbage man ti relate to, we are seeing changes in climate, but to what degree and where.?

It’s not about who is right and wrong, it’s what WE’RE prepared to do about it. Actions speak louder than words. Al Gore did a good thing shedding light on an important issue, and I’m doing my bit too.